10 Ways to Generate Social Media Buzz Around Your Events

by Julie Hauck

Does your business have an upcoming event? Your social media accounts play a hugely important role, attracting the interest of would-be attendees and highlighting the reasons why your event is a can’t-miss affair. If you’re in planning mode right now, keep the following 10 tips in mind to help you generate maximum social media buzz around your next event.

Create a hashtag for your event. This is an absolute must, because it helps you “brand” the chatter taking place around your event across various social media platforms. Keep the hashtag short, catchy, and memorable, and if possible, integrate your brand into the text of the hashtag. Also, make sure your hashtag is original! Perform hashtag searches on Twitter, Instagram, etc., to ensure that no one else has used that same hashtag before.

Facebook offers a handy Events feature that you can access through your brand’s Facebook Page. You can create a page solely for your event and invite your fans and followers at the click of a button. Include the 5 W’s of the event (Who, What, When, Where, Why) in the description box, and introduce your newly minted event hashtag as well. If there’s any kind of photo or logo related to the event, make sure to include it in the cover photo for the page. If the event is taking place at a particular location (i.e., not a virtual event), include directions to the venue. As a side note, it’s a good SEO move to create pages on other popular event-related sites such as Eventbrite and Upcoming as well.

Create a page on your website that’s solely dedicated to your event, and link to it from all your social media accounts. This page serves as an important hub for people looking to get more detailed information about your event. When posting the link, be sure to include an eye-grabbing image that draws the reader’s interest and creates excitement.

Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn to post various snippets about what to expect at the event. Include important details such as the conference agenda, keynote speakers, special guests, sponsors, images, planned activities, etc. You don’t have to overwhelm users with all of this information at once; instead, “drip-feed” it in a series of posts leading up to (and even during) the event.

When using Twitter, always include the event hashtag, and use a URL shortener to create trackable links so you know how many people are clicking over to your website from your tweets. If you’re highlighting a particular keynote speaker or special guest, be sure to include their official Twitter handle in your tweet, as this will often prompt the speaker or guest to pick up on it and retweet to their followers.

Post exciting, engaging images relating to your event on Instagram using your official event hashtag. Get creative with this visually-driven platform by posting various details about the event including behind-the-scenes preparation, pictures of the venue, guest speaker photos, etc. Tip: Don’t overdo it on the hashtags, but instead include your main event hashtag in the actual caption of the photo. In addition, be sure to tag other relevant Instagram users (e.g., confirmed attendees, keynote speakers, etc.) in the text of your post.

During the event, encourage attendees to share their experiences by posting photos, quotes from keynote speakers, conference notes, etc., on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and so on. Don’t forget to tell them to use your event hashtag when publishing their posts!

Create a Snapchat geofilter for your event. For the uninitiated, geofilters are basically small illustrations or embellishments people can overlay onto Snapchat photos only when they’re within a certain geographical area. Creating a Snapchat geofilter increases visibility for your event when attendees share their photos with their friends. Learn all the details about how to purchase a Snapchat On-Demand Geofilter at this link.

Video is one of the most powerful mediums on the Web right now, so use it! You can not only share video clips of event sessions, but you can also post more informal or behind-the-scenes snippets on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc., to give users access to special content that they wouldn’t be able to get any other way.

Share the details of your event experience in a “wrap-up” blog post. Include special conference moments or highlights, lessons learned, photos and/or videos, etc. Thank everyone who attended, and then share your blog post through your social media outlets to remind everyone why they should look forward to your next event!